Sony faces new PlayStation Network breach, TV recall

Sony’s chief information security officer, Philip Reitinger, took to the company’s PlayStation blog late Tuesday to disclose that approximately 93,000 customers on the PlayStation Network, Sony Entertainment Network and Sony Online Entertainment may have had their accounts accessed by an outside party.

The accounts were cracked using a large database of sign-in IDs and passwords. Reitinger said that the majority of attempts to access the accounts failed, indicating that the database hadn’t come from Sony itself, but from another source. “These attempts appeal to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or sources,” he wrote.

Any credit card information associated with the accounts is not at risk, though the company says it will work with anyone who may notice unauthorized purchases made through their PSN or SEN account.

Sony has decided to reset the passwords for all affected PSN and SEN accounts or freeze the accounts of all the SOE accounts that were affected until users can verify their information.

Sony’s electronics unit also suffered a setback this week, as the company recalled some models of 40-inch Bravia LCD televisions — the KDL-40V3000, KDL-40VL130, KDL-40W3000, KDL-40WL135, KDL-40XBR4, and KDL-40XBR5 — and advised that anyone who notices an abnormality in their TV to turn the unit off, unplug the cord and contact Sony.

There have been 11 incidents in Japan where overheating parts caused melting and smoke, the Associated Press reported. The recall affects approximately 1.6 million units, the report said.